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Outcast/Chapter 8
Chapter description Jaypaw's PoV :Jaypaw hears screeching from the entrance to the camp and pauses from picking watermint, asking Leafpool what it is. His mentor doesn’t reply, and Jaypaw guesses that it is because she is so focused on picking the herb that would help with the bellyache Thornclaw complained about. The tabby she-cat asks Jaypaw where the watermint is, and the apprentice grabs more of the stems and thrusts them at his mentor as he darts past the bramble screen and into the main clearing. He hears warriors coming out of their den and apprentices running, and whispers of alarm are heard all around camp. Graystripe growls to unknown cats that they can’t take another paw step forward until they tell the Clan what they are doing. Jaypaw picks up the scent of two strange cats, and he notices that their scent is strong, but has a bitter tinge that seems somehow familiar. The gray apprentice tries to pick up on the newcomers’ feelings, and he senses fear, suspicion, and overwhelming desperation. The gray tom notices that it had been difficult for them to come here, yet they had no other choice, and he realizes that they need something from ThunderClan. :Before any cat speaks, Stormfur and Brook enter through the tunnel with fresh-kill in their jaws, but the latter drops her vole upon noticing the intruders and she calls out their names, Talon and Night, asking what they are doing here. Cloudtail suspiciously asks if she knows those cats, but Hollypaw interrupts that those are the intruders her patrol scented near the WindClan border. Leafpool emerges from her den and states that they are not intruders, but from the Tribe of Rushing Water. Firestar bounds down from the rocks leading to his den, and recognizes them as Talon of Swooping Eagle and Night of No Stars. A quiet, accented voice confirms this. :Jaypaw senses the tension in the clearing begin to relax, and the older ThunderClan cats, who had made the Great Journey and stayed with the Tribe in the mountains, murmur in recognition. Dustpelt mutters that the black she-cat had looked familiar, while Sorreltail and Brackenfur puzzle over what they want. Firestar tells Stormfur and Brook to bring their prey over to the fresh-kill pile, as they must want to catch up with their old friends. However, Hollypaw whispers to Jaypaw that it doesn’t look like it, as Brook looks really upset and Stormfur appears to be disgusted. Lionpaw adds that the latter just gave his mate a nudge, and she clearly doesn’t want to go near them. Jaypaw can tell that his brother is still stiff from his fight with Ashfur but is also proud. Hollypaw reports that they are touching noses, but the rest of what she begins to say is cut off as the ground lurches beneath Jaypaw’s paws and he feels blood pounding in his ears. The gray apprentice smells blood, and he realizes he can see as scarlet light washes over him. :Fighting cats are everywhere, screeching and slashing their claws through each others’ fur. Blood spatters against Jaypaw’s pelt, and the gray tom struggles to balance on the hard stone ground underpaw. His paws are splayed against a downward-tilted boulder and scrambles across a narrow crevice, barely saving himself from being trapped. The apprentice then sees a sheer drop beneath him and the open sky ahead, stained bloodred from the sunset. Jaypaw is dizzy from the height and the violence of the battle, and he wonders where he is. He knows that is isn’t a dream, yet the clearing by the lake has vanished. :Suddenly the scene flickers, and the apprentice find himself in a dark cave where the noise of falling water echoes from the rocks and moonlight shines through a waterfall covering the entrance. Cats sit all around the young medicine cat, talking to each other in quiet, serious voices, and Jaypaw picks up their scents and recognizes those belonging to the intruders who just arrived at the camp. The blind tom sees them sitting opposite him: a huge tabby tom and a smaller black she-cat. At the far side of the cave, a muscular gray warrior rises to his paws, and Jaypaw realizes by scent that it must be Stormfur, and the tabby she-cat next to him must be Brook. Stormfur tells a stone-gray cat sitting on a boulder at the head of a cave that the cats will not leave, so the Tribe must make them respect their territory. The warrior begins to make a suggestion, but he is interrupted by the stone-colored cat on the rock, who protests that the Tribe of Endless Hunting has shown him nothing about that. Stormfur notes that the new cats' ancestors might walk in different skies, and he says that the Tribe must find a new way of dealing with intruders. Night asks him what he suggests, but an elder challenges that Stormfur is new to the mountains and doesn't know much of their ways. Talon snaps back that Stormfur's different background among many other cats would mean that he knows better how to deal with strangers. Some cats in the cave protest, while other encourage the gray tom, until the whole cave is filled with caterwauling. Eventually, Stoneteller, the tom on the rock calls for silence and announces that they will hear Stormfur's suggestion. :The warrior thanks the Healer then turns to the rest of the Tribe that in the Clans, trespassers are driven out. He goes on that a battle should scare the newcomers away or cause them to stay away from the Tribe. Brook steps forward next to her mate and adds that Stormfur will teach them battle moves that the strangers don't know. The brown tabby challenges if the Tribe will give up the mountains, and several cats call out 'no' from around the cave. Almost every cat has risen, yet Stoneteller sits unmoving on his rock, and Jaypaw is unable to sense anything from him. :Suddenly, the moonlight is fading and the Tribe's enthusiastic yowls change to terrified, furious screeching. Jaypaw is outside and the air reeks of blood. The apprentice finds himself on the bare mountainside again. It is dawn, and he is lying on his side at the edge of a stream. Cats are fighting all around the narrow valley, and the gray tom thinks that the Tribe cats aren't good fighters. Nearby, Stormfur calls out suggestions to his Tribemates before jumping back into battle. Brook and Night are close by, creeping up on a couple of attackers, but Jaypaw knows that the prey-hunters have never been trained to fight, and although they spring bravely at the intruders, the enemies are almost twice the she-cats' size and fight back with slashing claws. :Jaypaw is pushed aside by a pair of fighting cats, and one of them falls on top of him. The cat jerks then pulls itself to its paws, dragging itself into the shadows behind a boulder. A gray-black Tribe tom pushes past the ThunderClan tom, but a black-and-white cat catches up with him and pushes him to the ground. Jaypaw hisses at the Tribe cat to slit the enemy's belly open, but he doesn't hear. Although he fights persistently and with courage, he doesn't have strong battling skills, and the invading cat bites on his throat and springs away, leaving the dying Tribe cat half in and half out of the water. :Meanwhile, Stormfur fights at the center of a group of Tribe cats and is yowling encouragement, but the attacked keeping pushing them back. One by one, the Tribe cats break away and flee upstream toward the steeper slopes. One of them halts beside the gray tom's body and wails in grief before running onward, while two invaders, a silver tom and a brown-and-white she-cat, jeer in triumph. :Stormfur protests to his Tribemates to not give up, but Brook is the only cat who listens to him and stays. However, when she glances her shoulder and sees a fresh wave of intruders, the tabby she-cat tells her mate that they can't fight them all, yet Stormfur refuses to give up and tells Brook to go. She responds that she won't leave without him, but the Clan tom orders her to go and shoves her with one shoulder. He snarls at the intruders once more then races upstream behind his mate. The attackers stand watching, triumphant. :The vision changes once more to the Tribe's cave. Silver light shines on the walls, and it is silent except for the sound of the river. Stoneteller sits on his rock, an ear crusted with blood, and the rest of the Tribe, all wounded, huddle around him. The the center of the cave lie several limp bodies, including the gray tom Jaypaw saw get killed earlier. Stormfur stoops over him and wishes for Jag to walk the mountains forever with the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The warrior touches his nose to his friend's matted gray fur, then Brook pads up beside him and tells him to rest. :However, Stonteteller calls to Stormfur from the other end of the cave and demands what he has to say. The cave-guard's eyes cloud and he says that the Tribe fought brave, and as well as it could, yet they must make another plan. The healer interrupts him and growls that he won't make any more plans, as the Tribe did as he advised and was defeated when they did. Stormfur apologizes, but Stoneteller cuts him off and says that there is no place in the Tribe for the Clans' ways or its cats. He orders Stormfur to leave the mountains and never return. :Stormfur objects, but Stoneteller snarls at him to leave. Brook protests that Stormfur did his best to help and also risked his life, but the Tribe leader responds that no cat would be dead if they didn't listen to him. Talon agrees with the Healer, and Jaypaw feels betrayal from Brook. The tabby asks her brother if he can't understand, yet the tom says that it's what's best for the Tribe. The tabby prey-hunter then turns to Night, who has been her friend since they were kits, and asks if she thinks the Tribe needs Stormfur, but the black she-cat states that only Brook needs him. Brook questions if Night is saying she is no longer loyal to the Tribe, yet the latter doesn't answer. Stoneteller tells them to stop and he orders Stormfur to leave at once. Brook hisses that if her mate goes, she will too, and Stoneteller inquires if she really wants to abandon her fate to Stormfur. Brook mews that she trusts him with her life, yet the Tribe leader contemptuously says that she has no sense after what the Clan cat did to the Tribe. Stormfur angrily reminds the Healer that his sister died for the Tribe and saved them from Sharptooth, which causes some of the Tribe cats to look uneasy, yet none of them speak. :Stormfur tells Brook that they will go and find the Clans and urges his mate towards the cave opening. Stoneteller warns the she-cat that if she leaves now, she leaves forever, yet the tabby doesn't even look back as she and Stormfur pad away. Stoneteller calls after them that he will tell the Tribe of Endless Hunting that the two are dead to the cats they leave behind. Characters Major }} Minor *Hollypaw *Honeypaw *Graystripe *Talon *Night *Brook *Stormfur *Cloudtail *Firestar *Dustpelt *Sorreltail *Brackenfur *Lionpaw *Teller of the Pointed Stones *Unnamed speckled brown tom *Rain *Unnamed silver tabby tom *Unnamed tabby she-cat *Unnamed black tom *Unnamed small Tribe cat *Unnamed tom *Jag (Unnamed) *Unnamed black-and-white tom *Unnamed brown-and-white she-cat }} Mentioned *Brambleclaw *Ashfur *Feathertail (Unnamed) *Sharptooth }} Errors :Stormfur is mentioned with blue eyes twice. Notes and references Category:Chapter subpages Category:Outcast Category:Power of Three arc